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And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.Hebrews 12:1 NIV

I once asked the eye doctor why my husband could still see better than I even though we both wore glasses to correct our vision.

The optometrist’s answer, “Everybody’s different,” irritated me. Obviously. I wanted a more scientific answer, but the optometrist apparently thought I was too dense to understand.

Sometimes I need to be reminded with a simple answer. God treats us differently because He made us differently. He gives us our own path to walk, an individual race to run. Not the race marked for my parents, neighbors, co-workers, or friends—but a race marked out for me.

If God has set before me a 5K race, trying to run a marathon would be silly. He hasn’t put a marathon before me, and He probably hasn’t prepared me for it. Conversely, if He sets a marathon before me and I choose to run a shorter race, I’ll be frustrated that the training He put me through was for nothing—even if running the shorter race is easier.

God wants the best for us. He knows what we are capable of and where our individual strengths lie. He puts tasks and experiences before us to help us grow and then uses that growth to its fullest potential.

God has marked out a path for me, and that is the path I should follow. It may seem steep or rocky at times, but I choose to believe that either He has already trained me for it or that He is training me for something else. I will probably never know what my entire course looks like, but I want to trust the One who has set my path.

Karen Koch

Karen R. M. Koch resides in east central Indiana. She teaches middle school English and lives on a five-acre hobby farm with her husband and a small menagerie. She spends her time writing in a little cabin in the woods and studying to improve both her writing and her teaching.